No. 58-2011 ICCSR Research Paper Series – ISSN 1479-5124
Integrating Sustainability into Business Schools –
Analysis of 100 UN PRME Sharing Information on
Progress (SIP) reports
Jasmin Godemann, Christian Herzig, Jeremy Moon and Annie Powell
Research Paper Series
International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility ISSN 1479-5124
Editor: Jeremy Moon
International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility Nottingham University Business School
Nottingham University Jubilee Campus Wollaton Road Nottingham NG8 1BB United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 115 951 4781 Fax: +44 (0) 115 84 68074 Email: jeremy.moon@nottingham.ac.uk http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/business/ICCSR
2 Integrating Sustainability into Business Schools –
Analysis of 100 UN PRME Sharing Information on Progress (SIP) reports
Jasmin Godemann*
International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility Nottingham University Business School
United Kingdom
Christian Herzig
International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility Nottingham University Business School
United Kingdom
Jeremy Moon
International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility Nottingham University Business School
United Kingdom
Annie Powell
Centre for Business, Organisations and Society Bath University School of Management
United Kingdom
*Address for correspondence
jasmin.godemann@nottingham.ac.uk / godemann@uni.leuphana.de christian.herzig@nottingham.ac.uk
Nottingham University Business School Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Road
Nottingham NG8 1BB
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Contents
Abstract ... 5 Key words ... 5 Acknowledgements ... 5 Executive Summary ... 7 1. Introduction ... 82. The Principles for Responsible Management Education of the United Nations Initiative ... 10
3. Research Questions and Method ... 12
4. Frameworks and Strategies ... 17
Educational frameworks for sustainability ... 18
Strategies for sustainability research ... 21
Frameworks and strategies for managing and communicating sustainability .... 22
Summary ... 23
5. Facilitating Integration and Organisational Change ... 25
Context ... 25 Process ... 29 Reflection ... 33 Summary ... 36 6. Achievements ... 39 Outcomes ... 39 Impact ... 48 Summary ... 49
7. Conclusions and Implications ... 52
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Figures
Figure 1: Population ... 15Figure 2: Subjects taught ... 45
Tables
Table 1: Analytical structure ... 16Table 2: Summary of „Frameworks and Strategies‟ ... 24
Table 3: Summary of „Facilitating Integration and Organisational Change‟ ... 37
Table 4: Teaching methods used in business schools ... 42
Table 5: Summary of „Achievements‟ ... 51
Illustrative Examples
Illustrative Example 1: Sen‟s capability approach applied in a business school ... 19Illustrative Example 2: Learning methods and goals ... 20
Illustrative Example 3: Assessment criteria ... 20
Illustrative Example 4: Sustainability strategy including CO2 emissions reduction goals ... 22
Illustrative Example 5: Balancing top-down and bottom-up change processes - I .. 26
Illustrative Example 6: Balancing top-down and bottom-up change processes - II . 26 Illustrative Example 7: „Spiral Approach‟ - a step by step approach to organisational change ... 27
Illustrative Example 8: UN PRME task force ... 28
Illustrative Example 9: Tool to share ideas and initiate change I ... 30
Illustrative Example 10: Tool to share ideas and initiate change II ... 30
Illustrative Example 11: Change of sustainability related mindsets within the business school ... 31
Illustrative Example 12: Engaging staff and students ... 31
Illustrative Example 13: Staff development I ... 32
Illustrative Example 14: Staff development II ... 33
Illustrative Example 15: Consideration of time for organisational change ... 35
Illustrative Example 16: Mainstreaming sustainability in all disciplines ... 40
Illustrative Example 17: Overarching theme linked with studies ... 40
Illustrative Example 18: Special certificate ... 40
Illustrative Example 19: Interdisciplinary learning ... 41
Illustrative Example 20: Critical reflective learning ... 44
Illustrative Example 21: Campus focused student project... 46
Illustrative Example 22: Partnerships with entities in the campus surroundings ... 47
Illustrative Example 23: Net Impact ... 47
Illustrative Example 24: SIP report as impulse for change ... 48
Illustrative Example 25: Creating impact through non-academic publications and presentations ... 49
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Integrating Sustainability into Business Schools –
Analysis of 100 UN PRME Sharing Information on
Progress (SIP) reports
Abstract
This paper explores the endeavours and achievements of business schools in the integration of sustainability by analysing the Sharing Information on Progress (SIP) reports of the first 100 UN PRME signatories who developed and uploaded their report onto the UN PRME website. The findings from the analysis are presented in an order which reflects the dimensions that constitute a model of integration. They show to what extent and in which ways business schools embed sustainability in their teaching, research and operational practice and how they manage and facilitate the integration process. This report synthesizes the key findings of the content analysis of the SIP reports and provides a critical analysis of business schools‟ approaches to and achievements in integrating sustainability.
Key words
Business Schools – Organisational Change – Sustainable Development – Responsible Management Education – United Nations PRME Initiative
Acknowledgements
The financial support of the project „Integrating Sustainability into Business Schools‟ (ISIBS) by the Higher Education Funding Council England‟ (HEFCE) is gratefully acknowledged. We would like to thank Bath University School of Management, especially Steve Brammer and Andrew Millington. We are grateful for the useful comments on an earlier version of this report from the members of the advisory board of the ISIBS project, Andrew Crane, Jonas Haertle, Gerd Michelsen and Jonathan Slack.
6 The project
„Integrating Sustainability into Business Schools‟ (ISIBS) is part of the „Leading Sustainable Development in Higher Education‟ initiative of HEFCE. The project, a collaboration between the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, Nottingham University Business School and the Centre for Business, Organisations and Society, University of Bath School of Management, aims to provide guidance to business schools on the integration and communication of social, economic and ecological sustainability in their educational programmes, research and their
organisational practices and processes. The guidance is derived from three empirical studies into those business schools that have already made commitments to
contributing to sustainability education. The three empirical stages are:
Stage 1: Content analysis of SIP reports: Through the analysis of the SIP reports the project aims to improve our understanding of how international exemplars of business schools integrate sustainability. We explore the approaches to sustainability integration and identify existing and state-of-the-art experiences among the
signatories of the UN initiative „Principles for Responsible Management Education‟ (UN PRME).
Stage 2: Telephone survey of English business schools: Telephone interviews are carried out with the Dean and MBA Programme Directors of business schools which have made a commitment to integrate sustainability (signatories to UN PRME; those ranked in the 2009 Aspen Institute Beyond Grey Pinstripes Ranking; members and/or founding institutions of the Academy of Business in Society). We label these schools as Aspirational Sustainable Schools.
Stage 3: Mini case studies: On the basis of the above survey and the analysis of the SIP reports case studies at a selection of Aspirational Sustainable Schools are carried out. The case studies aim to enhance our understanding of the organisational change process and are based on interviews with various stakeholders and the analysis of secondary data (building upon data gathered in stages 2 and 3).
The empirical findings form the basis for the identification of approaches to sustainability integration and for dissemination and wider usage of these good practices. This report centres on the findings from stage 1 and provides insights into current approaches to sustainability integration in business schools worldwide.
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Executive Summary
We identify 12 key messages from the analysis of the „Sharing in Progress‟ reports:
The vast majority of business schools which have signed the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education aim to embed sustainability within all areas (research, teaching, operations); however most emphasis is placed on teaching
Business schools stress different goals of sustainable business education: some focus on critical thinking whereas others stress the necessity of innovation, to deal with societal problems or emphasise the value of traditional management knowledge
Business schools tend to develop new programmes or courses to address
sustainability or critically revise the syllabus of individual modules; few business schools try to embed sustainability issues across the entire curriculum
Business schools have the tendency to integrate sustainability into postgraduate programmes, with a particular focus on the MBA programme
Several business schools have established research centres and research groups to carry out research dedicated to sustainability and to enhance the overall integration of sustainability in their organisations
Business schools seem to see sustainability as a main research focus but they do not elaborate on their understanding of and approach to sustainability research
Business schools are committed to greening the campus activities (with a strong focus on the reduction of CO2 emissions) and community involvement
Although business schools mainly apply traditional teaching methods (e.g. case studies) they also offer interdisciplinary courses and new learning settings to teach sustainability
Only few business schools appear to realise the full spectrum of opportunities arising from participation, particularly of staff and students, to „learn from each other‟ and discuss and reflect different perspectives on higher education for sustainable development
Tools which support business schools in reflecting their own practices, overcoming barriers and facilitating change appear to be a critical part of strategies for sustainability integration; however, these strategies are made explicit by a minority of business schools only
To integrate sustainability business schools put effort into infrastructure (e.g. by establishing sustainability related working groups and committees or enhancing internal communication)
Stimuli to foster change such as offering grants for sustainability related initiatives or qualification of staff are not yet very common
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1.
Introduction
Sustainability in management education and business schools is a fairly recent phenomenon. Following several environmental, social and financial crises in the recent years, which revealed the significant social and environmental effects of businesses and other organisations‟ practices, an increasing number of business academics and practitioners have begun considering that sustainability issues are imperative to the survival of business and the society. The recent financial downturn and business scandals have further exposed management education and made it subject to criticism (Felton and Sims 2005). In as much as business schools provide the education for the next generation of managers, it is increasingly recognised as crucial that business schools proactively ensure that graduates are educated in business ethics (Sims 2004, Swanson and Fisher 2011) and acquaint their students with the challenge to integrate sustainability in their decisions as professionals.
There is some evidence of response to this challenge in the field of management education. For example, there has been an increase in the percentage of business schools worldwide that require students to take a course focusing „Business and Society‟ issues (from 34% in 2001, 45% in 2003, 54% in 2005, 63% in 2007 to 69% in 2009; Aspen Institute Centre for Business Education 2010). A continuing growth of CSR education in Europe is also evident in Moon and Orlitzky‟s (2010) study.
However, despite a broad consensus that education programmes require change towards better preparation of students for the complexity they will face as professionals (Atwater et al. 2008), with praxis in mind there is still uncertainty about how embedding sustainability in the curriculum can be achieved. Previous studies articulate concerns and limitations in the sustainability integration process (Rusinko 2010). For example, Alcaraz and Thiruvattal (2010: 542) state that “[sustainability] has not yet become embedded in the mainstream of business-related education.” So, though business, society, CSR and sustainability education have increased in business schools anxiety that these themes are not embedded in management education remains.
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The development of the six Principles for Responsible Management Education (UN PRME) under the auspices of the United Nations can be seen as a response of business schools to cope with the increasing societal demands for a responsible economy (c.f. Waddock et al. 2011). The principles were unveiled at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in July 2007. They emerged from a collaborative initiative of the United Nations Global Compact and representatives of selected business schools and other higher education institutions. The objective of UN PRME is to embed corporate responsibility and sustainability in business schools‟ core areas of education, research and organisation. At this point in time (August 2011), more than 380 business schools worldwide have joined the initiative and have been devoting a significant amount of attention to sustainability. This is still a small proportion of all business schools worldwide but a remarkable achievement given that the UN PRME initiative was founded only a few years ago.
Last year saw the achievement of a key milestone of the initiative: by June 2010, all participants that had adopted the UN PRME before 31 December 2008 were
requested to submit their first Sharing in Progress (SIP) report and to make it publicly accessible by uploading it onto the UN PRME website. The purpose of SIP reports is twofold (UN PRME 2010): they support sharing experience and good
practice among the UN PRME network and provide a regular account of achievements made by the signatories to all stakeholders (at least every 24 months).
We took this opportunity to explore the endeavours and achievements of business schools in integrating sustainability into business education, research and operations by analysing the SIP reports of the first 100 UN PRME signatories worldwide who uploaded their reports onto the UN PRME website. We use the term „business school‟ in this study and subsume different types of organisations from free-standing
business schools or schools / faculties within larger university level institutions. This report synthesizes the key findings of the content analysis of the SIP reports and provides a critical analysis of business schools‟ approaches to and achievements in integrating sustainability.
This report proceeds by outlining the Principles for Responsible Management
Education of the UN initiative (Section 2). It then unfolds the research question that leads the analysis as well as the research method employed (Section 3). In the
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following three sections (4, 5 and 6) the findings from the analysis of the UN PRME reports are presented. The presentation of the results does not follow the order of the six principles of the UN initiative (see Section 2). Rather they are presented in an order which reflects the dimensions that constitute a model of integration (Table 1 in Section 3). In Section 4 the frameworks and strategies for the integration of
sustainability into business schools are described. In Section 5, the focus is on the transformation process and the question of how business schools facilitate the integration of sustainability. In Section 6 the focus lies on what the business schools have achieved with the integration process. Conclusions are then drawn from this analysis, and some implications for the integration of sustainability into business schools are discussed (Section 7).
2.
The Principles for Responsible Management Education of the
United Nations Initiative
The UN PRME initiative of the United Nations is a reaction to a set of challenges that business schools are facing today. The initiative formulates six principles which reflect the implications of the societal transformation process for business schools and provide guidance to business schools in integrating sustainability into teaching, research and operations (UN PRME 2008).
To embrace the increased demands upon and societal expectations of managers the first three principles focus on a shift in business education:
Purpose: “We will develop the capabilities of students to be future generators of
sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy”. (Principle 1)
Values: “We will incorporate into our academic activities and curricula the values of
global social responsibility as portrayed in international initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact”. (Principle 2)
Method: “We will create educational frameworks, materials, processes and
environments that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership”. (Principle 3)
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The fourth principle addresses the relationship of knowledge generation and the businesses‟ role in and interaction with society and the natural environment:
Research: “We will engage in conceptual and empirical research that advances our
understanding about the role, dynamics, and impact of corporations in the creation of sustainable social, environmental and economic value”. (Principle 4)
In relation to the mission of educating responsible managers and enabling them to deal with complex global problems, two further principles are formulated:
Partnership and Dialogue. These two principles stress that business education has an important role in fostering a stakeholder-oriented ethic to managers. “Otherwise, students will continue to get the message that practicing managers have little or no legal and ethical responsibilities to society” (Swanson 2004: 43). More broadly, it highlights the role of business schools in developing a debate about sustainability and the importance of engaging with stakeholders to better understand and meet the challenges of sustainable development.
Partnership: “We will interact with managers of business corporations to extend our
knowledge of their challenges in meeting social and environmental responsibilities and to explore jointly effective approaches to meeting these challenges”. (Principle 5)
Dialogue: “We will facilitate and support dialog and debate among educators,
business, government, consumers, media, civil society organizations and other interested groups and stakeholders on critical issues related to global social responsibility and sustainability.” (Principle 6)
Finally, the initiative also stresses the necessity to transform organisational practices to reflect the business schools‟ overall commitment to responsibility and
sustainability. In following this requirement, it has become current practice in business schools‟ SIP reporting to disclose information about the integration of sustainability into their operations.
Operations: “We understand that our own organizational practices should serve as
example of the values and attitudes we convey to our students.” (Additional Principle 7)
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These principles are intended to provide guidance to the UN PRME signatories in integrating sustainability and are used by many signatories to structure their SIP reports. Reporting on progress to other business schools and stakeholders by signatory institutions is an essential part of the active commitment to the UN PRME initiative. In relation to these principles, SIP reports are expected to include the following four elements (UN PRME 2010):
1. “Renewal of the commitment to UN PRME, signed by the highest executive of
the organization;
2. Major achievements in relation to the implementation of one or more of the six principles during the last 24 months;
3. Key objectives for the next 24-month period with regard to the implementation of the principle(s);
4. Desired support (meetings, tools, good practise, implementation guidelines etc.) from the UN PRME community which could help most in achieving the organizational key objectives for the next 24 months.”
3.
Research Questions and Method
The purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent business schools worldwide which have submitted UN PRME SIP reports embed sustainability in their teaching, research and operational practice and how they manage and facilitate the integration process. More specifically, we explore three elements which together constitute different stages and aspects of the integration process. These elements are:
„Frameworks and Strategies‟, „Facilitating Integration and Organisational Change‟ and „Achievements‟ (see Table 1).
First, we investigate the Frameworks and Strategies (A) applied at the organisational level and within education and research (Baseline). Research questions addressed are:
- How do business schools incorporate sustainability values in their educational
framework?
- What are business schools‟ understandings of sustainability research and how
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- What frameworks and strategies for managing organisational practices and
communicating sustainability are utilized?
Secondly, we investigate how business schools Facilitate (B) the processes of organisational change towards sustainability (Context, Process, Reflection). Research questions addressed are:
- Which learning strategies and structures do business schools mobilise for
sustainability integration (Context)?
- What tools are used to manage the organisational change process (Process)? - Do business schools reflect on and learn from the integration process
(Reflection)?
Thirdly, we analyse the self-reported Achievements (C) of the sustainability integration process (Outcome, Impact). With regard to the Outcome of the integration process we ask:
- To what extent have business schools enhanced sustainability education and
created respective learning opportunities (sustainability-related learning offerings)?
- To what extent have business schools created and advanced knowledge
regarding sustainable development (sustainability-related research collaborations and output)?
- How have business schools developed their organisation and operations
towards sustainability (sustainable organisational practice)?
With regard to the Impact of the integration process we ask:
- What are the impacts of business schools on the society and the natural
environment (through teaching, research and operations)?
- How is knowledge transferred?
- What are the key targets for improved performance in the future?
These research questions form the basis of our analysis. Table 1 presents the three main elements and the sub-areas of our analytical structure. It also provides some examples taken from our findings for illustrative purposes.
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We analyse the SIP reports of the first 100 reporting signatories who developed and uploaded their report onto the UN PRME website. UN PRME is one of the most
important initiatives to inspire and champion responsible management education, research and thought leadership globally. Signatories are committed to implementing one or more of the six sustainability-related principles for responsible management education and to sharing progress regularly to all stakeholders through their SIP reports.
We consider the data base to be appropriate for our analysis for two reasons:
- All SIP reports respond to one single institutional cue;
- The data are publicly available for other researchers to verify, challenge or
extend our analysis.
Their analysis enables us to take stock of the state-of-the-art experience among a network of „Aspirational Business Schools‟.
We acknowledge that SIP reports are not necessarily a representative reflection of business schools‟ concepts and practices with regard to sustainability integration. The results only reflect what business schools choose to report not what they are actually doing. The results could therefore underestimate, over-estimate or otherwise poorly reflect performance. However, we assume that the reports
represent the respective priorities set by business schools to integrate sustainability and therefore expect that these reports provide useful insights into existing and cutting-edge approaches to sustainability integration and experience made with these approaches.
The 100 SIP reports were identified as follows: All reports that had been uploaded by the 30th September 2010 (104) were downloaded for analysis. We considered only the latest report provided by each organisation (a few business schools report more frequently on their progress and thus had uploaded 2 or 3 reports by the time we carried out our analysis). Five downloaded reports were not available in English and one report was published by a non-business school organisation and therefore we did not include these reports in our analysis. The remaining 98 reports were
complemented by the next two reports which were uploaded after our deadline. Thus, 100 reports form the data for our analysis.
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As Figure 1 shows, the coverage of the SIPS is global but the overwhelming majority of reports are from North America and Europe.
Figure 1: Population
We used a deductive theoretical framework for the analysis of the data, whilst also allowing criteria to emerge inductively from the data. We coded across all sections of the report i.e. if business schools reported about their teaching methods in other sections than in the dedicated section (in this case principle 3: methods) the data was also coded and included in our analysis. The analysis was carried out with the NVivo software.
16 Table 1: Analytical structure
Description Examples (A) F ram ewo rk s an d S tr a teg ies B asel in e
Overall strategic approach to
sustainability
Educational framework for
sustainability
Strategies for sustainability research
Frameworks and strategies for
managing and communicating sustainability
Sustainability embedded in business
school‟s strategy, stand-alone sustainability strategy
Curriculum framework, list of
competences, assessment criteria
Understanding of sustainability research Environmental management standards (B) F acil ita tin g I n teg rat io n an d O rg an is at io n al C h an g e C o n te xt
Demonstrating willingness and
openness to learn
Developing learning strategies to
enhance sustainability integration
Establishing an organisational
structure that supports the learning process
Balancing top-down and bottom-up
approaches to create climate for organisational learning
Sustainability related working group,
taskforce, committee
Research centres addressing
sustainability issues
Pr
o
cess
Instigation of organisational change
through evaluation of current practices
Engaging and communicating with
organisational members and external stakeholders
Developing staff
Evaluation of the existent practices of
sustainability-related teaching, research and operation
Engaging staff and students and
exploring mindsets
Providing teaching materials and
financial incentives to staff
Ref
le
ct
io
n
Sharing with and learning from others
Identifying barriers to organisational
change
Developing learning strategies and
approaches to enabling organisational change
Lessons learnt in the process of
integrating sustainability
Development of tools to overcome
barriers
Exchange of experience with other
business schools (C ) Ac h iev emen ts Ou tco me
Sustainability related learning
offerings
Sustainability related research
collaborations and output
Sustainable organisational practice
Programmes and teaching methods
Innovative curriculum and research
Collaboration to overcome disciplinary
boundaries in research
Sustainability related campus
initiatives and events
Imp
act
Impacts that result from the
integration of sustainability (through teaching, research and operations)
Transfer of knowledge
Impacts reflected in target setting
Impact of commitment to participate
in the UN PRME initiative
Academic publications, presentations
and media contributions linked to sustainability
Various key targets for improved
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4.
Frameworks and Strategies
The purpose of this Section is to explore frameworks and strategies for sustainability integration in different areas of business schools (see Table 1). The baseline was identified as describing the integration of sustainability in frameworks and strategies for teaching, research and operations. This could include:
The educational framework underpinning sustainability related learning objectives and learning outcomes;
The business school‟s understanding of and strategies for sustainability research;
The frameworks and strategies for managing and communicating sustainability within the business school‟s operations.
We also investigated to what extent business schools report on their overall strategic approach to sustainability integration. As explained above, business schools are expected to report their commitment to the UN PRME within the SIP reports. It thus does not come to a surprise that nearly all reviewed business schools present the organisation‟s vision of and a general commitment to sustainable development and UN PRME in their report. However, only one third of the business schools explicate their sustainability-related organisational strategy. Out of these, almost all explain how sustainability is defined and integrated within their overall strategy. In less than 5% of these cases a stand-alone strategy for sustainable development is said to form the foundation for the integration of sustainability. An additional 5% of the business schools refer to a strategy for individual areas, i.e. they explain how they strategise research, teaching or operations (see also below).
The analysis reveals some further insights into the sustainability strategy. These findings are always limited to individual cases but indicate approaches which may be useful for other business schools. First, a few business schools explicitly align their strategy with or incorporate a commitment to UN PRME. Second, some business schools develop progress indicators for their long-term strategy, e.g. in relation to the six principles. Third, in individual cases stakeholder engagement is explicitly mentioned in connection with the formulation of a sustainability strategy, in one case by utilising the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard as a framework for the involvement of internal and external stakeholders.
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Educational frameworks for sustainability
Educational frameworks refer to business schools‟ learning goals and how these are translated into learning outcomes, methods and assessment.
Almost half (46%) of the reports deliver a description of the business school‟s learning objectives. These schools often use standard phrases which describe that the business school wants to educate leaders of tomorrow, deliver solid foundations in the management disciplines and enable students to approach managerial decisions with confidence. In two third of these cases (65%) we also identified distinct learning goals for their sustainable education. These distinctive learning goals can be
characterized – in roughly equal proportions – as follows.
Students should…
- be encouraged to think critically and independently;
- be able to achieve sustainability through innovation in their professional life; - act as change agents and global citizens in their professional life;
- be capable of dealing with today‟s challenges and complexity;
- be equipped with solid traditional management knowledge for responsible
decision making.
Those signatories who describe their objectives and learning goals in more detail refer to capabilities or competences in order to explain the learning outcomes of their educational efforts.
The capability approach can be seen as a framework to think about quality of life and social justice. Capabilities are oriented towards the kind of life that people find
valuable based on reflection and refer to what people are or what they are able to do or be – rather than how much income they have (Sen 1985, 2009). The first UN principle demands, literally, the development of students‟ capabilities (see Section 2). Applying the capability approach in the context of management education of UN PRME signatories appears to be sensible as these institutions are committing
themselves to student learning for sustainable development. Students are supposed to reflect on the value of sustainability both in their decisions as professionals and as individuals, and as future managers they will have the opportunity to create
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education programmes it is worth focusing on the underlying values through which students distinguish and select what is valuable or less valuable, and explore if and how sustainability related values are delivered through business education.
Our study shows that every tenth business school makes a reference to a capability related approach by explaining which capabilities it wants to foster and why it
considers this to be important for future business leaders and responsible individuals. These references are usually shaped around aims such as to equip students with the capacity to reflect their decisions and judgements against the backdrop of ethical reasoning or to give them the opportunity to reflect on how they define their own moral compass for decision-making and define a successful life. In their reports, the business schools make no connection between their approach to enhancing
capabilities and theoretical approaches or concepts. In one case, however, Sen‟s (1985, 2009) capability approach has been used for framing the business school‟s pedagogical approach (see Illustrative Example 1).
Illustrative Example 1: Sen’s capability approach applied in a business school
At Pforzheim University Amartya Sen‟s human development and capability approach is applied in lectures and seminars on sustainable development as well as in lectures on business, society, and ethics. Sen has criticized the traditional economic understanding of welfare in a constructive way. The Capability Approach is a basis for the modern, meanwhile well-established, human
development approach. We apply the human development and capability approach in order to better understand the meaning and interrelations of “social sustainability” and enable students to connect economic, social and environmental sustainability more easily.
(Pforzheim, Germany)
To enhance students‟ appreciation of the value of sustainability is critical for
sustainable business education. Besides appreciating its value, there is also a need to act in line with the principles of sustainability – both as a professional and
individual. Therefore specific competences are needed. So called competency models specify the contents and goals of educational programmes and provide guidance to the „design‟ of teaching and learning processes. The higher education for sustainable development (HESD) literature highlights the role of key competences which enable students to “modify and shape the future of society, and guide its social, economic, technological and ecological changes along the lines of sustainable development” (de Haan 2006: 22).
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Overall, analysing the extent to which business schools aim to foster competences through their educational programmes proves difficult, as there is a rather random use of terms such as skills, knowledge, capabilities and competencies. Despite a tendency to use the term „skills‟ in a broad and more general way, in 13% of the reviewed reports there is a clear articulation of specific competences which business schools want to foster through responsible business education (e.g. social,
intercultural or methodical competences) (see Illustrative Example 2).
Illustrative Example 2: Learning methods and goals
The school defines intercultural and social competencies as core learning outcomes. This is mirrored in the curricula' which integrate exchange programs and language courses as well as in didactic means namely group work and small group sizes.
(Frankfurt, Germany)
In addition to the articulation of learning goals and outcomes, our study also explored to what extent these are presented in connection with learning methods and/or criteria of assessment in order to portray a more complete picture of the organisation‟s educational framework. More than a quarter (27%) of the reviewed business schools explains how the learning goals or outcomes are linked with
learning methods and/or criteria of assessment. About half of these business schools place particular emphasis on how the learning methods relate to the envisaged learning outcomes (see Illustrative Example 2; for further findings on learning methods applied by business schools please see also Section 6). The other half of these business schools describes assessment criteria for measuring the learning outcomes (see Illustrative Example 3). There are only very few examples of business schools which cover all of the issues mentioned above in a comprehensive way.
Illustrative Example 3: Assessment criteria
Ethics Assessment: In each sequence (major) in the Collect of Business, students are assessed on four dimensions – writing and critical thinking, team skills, presentation skills, and ethics
knowledge. With respect to ethics knowledge, the goal is that at least 75 percent of the students will be evaluated as acceptable or exemplary on the following criteria: students demonstrate an understanding of the responsibility of business in society; students demonstrate an understanding of ethical decision making; students demonstrate moral development in ethical decision making; students demonstrate an understanding of the responsibilities of a leader‟s role as it relates to ethics; and students demonstrate an understanding of the roles of various corporate governance
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entities and policies as they relate to ethics. Faculty members in the 20 sequences assess these skills each semester and meet once a year to discuss results and ideas for improving student performance on these assessments.
(Illinois State, USA)
Strategies for sustainability research
Sustainability research investigates the interactions between human and
environmental systems to address the challenges of a sustainable development and to promote transition toward sustainability (Clark and Dickson 2003). According to Clark (2010) four broad characteristics of sustainability research can be identified which clarify how sustainability research addresses its questions. “These are (…) i) problem-driven focus on human-environment systems; ii) integrative approach to understanding complex human-environment interactions; iii) special attention to the cross-scale dimensions of those interactions and iv) its boundary-spanning work at the interface of research and practice” (Clark 2010: 88).
The analysis of the SIP reports shows that only a tiny number of the reviewed business schools provide a comprehensive explanation of their understanding of sustainability research or their specific approach to understanding and approaching complex problems related to the vision of sustainable development. This does not mean that business school would not address this element of sustainability
integration. Indeed, almost every business school shows some engagement with sustainability related research (see Section 6). Moreover, as mentioned above, one third of the business schools address sustainability related research aspects in their sustainability strategy or overall strategy. However, this often takes the shape of short statements such as reference to the business school‟s commitment to UN PRME as a key element of the organisational strategy, in both teaching and research. A very low number of business schools (less than 10%) provide more details about their sustainability research strategy and, for example, elaborate on the areas of expertise and the process of engaging with the emerging area of sustainability research. Interestingly, although only very few business schools explicitly address interdisciplinary as one of the main characteristics of sustainability research in their strategy there is at least some broader evidence of actively engaging with this type of research, for example, through cross-faculty research collaboration (for further information, see Section 6).
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Frameworks and strategies for managing and communicating sustainability
The UN PRME initiative suggests an additional principle which refers to the
integration of sustainability into the organisational practices of business schools (see Section 2). The analysis of the reports reveals that this principle is often briefly addressed within the overall strategy or sustainability strategy (see above). About a fifth of the reviewed business schools explicitly acknowledge that their own
organisation must be seen as a „role model‟ and that the business school‟s
organisational practice should be committed to sustainable development. In only a few cases is there broader coverage, for example, in terms of strategic
environmental and/or sustainability targets. This is exemplified in the strategic goal of reducing carbon emissions and becoming carbon neutral within a certain period (e.g. by signing the American College and University Presidents‟ Climate
Commitment ACUPCC) (see also Illustrative Example 4).
Illustrative Example 4: Sustainability strategy including CO2 emissions
reduction goals
Carbon reduction: We understand the importance of leading by example, and Cranfield University as a whole is developing its sustainability strategy, including a commitment to a 50% reduction in
CO2 emissions by 2014 and seeking to expand our Carbon Brainprint (the positive impact the
university has through research, teaching and practice to help others to reduce their carbon emissions). The SOM specifically has engaged with the Carbon Trust and the Selix Fund to reduce energy wastage by investing in new technology.
(Cranfield, UK)
Environmental management systems and ranking and awarding schemes appear to provide frameworks for managing sustainable organisational practices. About a tenth of the business schools say that they use frameworks such as the accreditation standard ISO14001 for environmental management systems or refer to their achievements in being awarded for outstanding environmental or sustainability performance (for further information see Section 6).
Overall, the findings on strategies for sustainable organisational practices need to be interpreted with caution. It appears that business schools often „benefit‟ from being part of a university-wide strategy for creating a sustainable campus and developing a sound learning and working environment. There are instances in which this is
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explicitly mentioned in the SIP reports and it may well be that university strategies have not been reported in all cases (this appears to be likely as there is also broad coverage of organisational outcomes in terms of sustainable practices, see Section 6). Among the SIP reporters there are also a few business schools which mention that they aim to build up on these university strategic initiatives and to further develop their own approaches to manage their operations and develop their own sustainability models to create a sustainable environment where stakeholders work, learn and interact.
One might expect that a communication strategy would play a significant role within the management and implementation of sustainability in business schools given its potential role in helping to operationalise the strategies and frameworks introduced above and the high importance of partnerships and dialogue within the UN PRME framework (see Principles 5 and 6 in Section 2). Strategic sustainability
communication includes a comprehensive communication management concept which enables listening and responding to members and stakeholders of the business school with the aim to engage and involve them to stimulate and guide change (Godemann and Michelsen 2011). Indeed, there are several business schools which make efforts to foster dialogue and communication about sustainability (see Sections 5 and 6). However, less than 10% of the business schools note that a specific
sustainability related communication strategy underpins their communication activities.
Summary
Summarising the baseline in which the overall integration of sustainability in teaching, research and operation takes place, several basic frameworks and
strategies were identified. Table 2 gives an overview of the main findings regarding these frameworks and strategies as used by business schools.
The review of the educational framework underpinning learning objectives and learning outcomes showed that business schools stress different goals of sustainable business education: some focus on critical thinking whereas others stress the
necessity of innovation to deal with societal problems, acting as a global citizen, dealing with complexity or emphasise the value of traditional management knowledge. Overall, many reports appear to be rather vague in specifying their educational framework. Similarly, sustainability seems to be a main research focus
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for the reviewed business schools but within their reports they have not pointed out the specifics of sustainability research and how they address it e.g. worded in a research strategy.
On the frameworks and strategies for managing and communicating sustainability within the business schools, our analysis shows that there is commitment to engage with their community and „green‟ the campus. Environmental management systems and ranking and awarding schemes appear to provide frameworks for sustainable organisational practices. Within the last decade higher education institutions have put efforts into environmental management systems (Viebahn 2002) - the focus now appear to move to carbon management, the reduction of CO2 emissions and carbon neutrality. Business schools communicate about environmental and sustainability issues (see Section 6) but a comprehensive sustainability communication strategy is rarely presented in the SIP reports.
Table 2: Summary of ‘Frameworks and Strategies’ (A) Frameworks and Strategies
Overall strategic approach
to sustainability integration there is evidence of strategising sustainability: often all three areas (research, teaching and operations) are covered but addressed rather general and short:
sustainability integration in overall strategies rather than stand-alone sustainability strategies. Educational frameworks for
sustainability specific learning goals around critical thinking; innovation; global citizenship; dealing with complexity; traditional management knowledge
low alignment of learning goals with learning outcomes, methods and assessment criteria. Strategies for sustainability
research almost no account of a sustainability research strategy:
no explication of understanding of sustainability research.
Frameworks and strategies for managing and
communicating sustainability
utilizing frameworks such as environmental management standards and awarding and ranking schemes;
social engagement focuses on community involvement;
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5.
Facilitating Integration and Organisational Change
This section gives attention to the organisational transformation process and the question of how business schools facilitate organisational learning and manage organisational change towards sustainability across the institution (see Table 1). Three areas are analysed: a) the Context in which all endeavours of integration takes place, b) the Process of managing organisational learning for sustainability, and c) how business schools Reflect the integration and learning process at an organisational level.
Context
The term Context refers firstly to the willingness and openness of business schools to learn about sustainability and organisational change. Secondly, it addresses the learning strategies for sustainability and coordination of organisational learning. The development of learning strategies for sustainability can support business schools in achieving their targets and visions of organisational change. Thirdly and in relation to this, the development of an organisational structure can trigger business schools‟ ability to learn, and therefore should be aligned with the strategy.
The three key aspects underpinning the context of sustainability integration are:
Demonstrating willingness and openness to learn;
Developing learning strategies to enhance sustainability integration;
Establishing an organisational structure that supports the learning process.
Demonstrating willingness and openness to learn
An important precondition for organisational learning is the awareness of a need to learn. Although becoming a signatory to UN PRME itself includes the commitment to changing existing organisational practice and incorporating one or more of the six principles, the willingness and openness to learn may still differ among
organisations. Therefore, clearly communicating that the organisation is willing to learn and that learning is recognised as critical for organisational change towards sustainability represents one way to show the importance attached to organisational learning. Our analysis shows that 13% explicitly express a will to learn through the UN PRME initiative.
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Organisational change evolves to fit the shifting environment. It requires a learning strategy that frames infrastructure (Context) and processes (Processes), often in a top-down approach. In our set of business schools, there is frequent reference to the importance of formal initiatives from the school‟s leadership or of university-wide change efforts for organisational renewal. With regard to responsible management education, this includes for example a formal request from the business school director and the programme directors to incorporate UN PRME into core courses. However, there also seems to be limited power or willingness to mandate
organisational change and implementation of UN PRME from the top (see Illustrative Example 5). It seems that learning strategies need to take the expectations and experiences of research, teaching and student bodies into account and provide an environment in which exploration and experimentation can take place. Illustrative Example 6 highlights the role of staff‟s involvement, perceived efficacy and
experimentation. Overall, the findings from our study suggest that the key challenge in strategically implementing sustainability into business schools depends on finding the right balance of top-down and bottom-up approaches to create the right climate for organisational change.
Illustrative Example 5: Balancing top-down and bottom-up change processes - I
Without strong roots in research, teaching and the student body, implementing PRME will become a bureaucratic exercise. On the other hand, without clear support from the School‟s leadership, the implementation of PRME stands in danger of becoming too attached to the efforts of a few individuals.
(Hanken, Finland)
Illustrative Example 6: Balancing top-down and bottom-up change processes - II
Sustainability courses can be driven from the top down, but, to embed sustainability within the curriculum more holistically, we need to engage the hearts and minds of the lecturers who design the courses and set the coursework. The extent to which lecturers do this is a product not just of their attitudes towards sustainability issues, but also their perceived efficacy (Ajzen, 1991) ie how well they feel able to embed sustainability issues within their courses.
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Developing learning strategies to enhance sustainability integration
Explicit stimulation of learning processes within the organisation is hardly addressed by the reviewed business schools. This could mean that most of the business schools apply some of the tools presented in this Section of the paper without systematically embedding them in a more comprehensive and strategic approach to organisational change. Only about one out of ten business schools (9%) demonstrate that they employ a certain strategy for organisational learning. Illustrative Example 7 shows such systematic approach to foster organisational change.
Illustrative Example 7: ‘Spiral Approach’ - a step by step approach to organisational change
Each group of activities triggered a knowledge cycle of a spiral that is characterized by the stages: Acquisition – Institutionalization – Sharing – Creation. Our experience tells us that these are overlapped activities. The PRME spiral metaphor tries to explain that every cycle increases our knowledge, reinforce institutionalization, involve more people and develops the knowledge creation capacity.
(ESPAE, Graduate School of Management, Ecuador)
Establishing an organisational structure that supports the learning process
Finally, the findings give insights into elements of the design of business schools‟ organisational structure which is generally seen to play a key role in organisational change of higher education institutions (Kezar 2001). In our sample, structural change processes include very often the establishment of working groups,
committees or task forces (Illustrative Example 8) within the business school or the overall institution. These changes aim to support the integration of sustainability in one or more of the three areas, teaching, research and operations.
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About one in four business schools provide information related to this change in structure but the form of transformation varies. On the one hand, there are working groups at university level which mainly address environmental and sustainable practices on campus and in which the business schools participate (17%). They aim to establish a sustainable campus culture and to enhance communications activities across the campus.
On the other hand, at business school level there are in some cases (10%) task forces which have been established to either embed sustainability in the curriculum or, more broadly, integrate sustainability into all three areas. The latter type of task force supports sustainability research and intends to influence curriculum
development and pedagogical innovations towards sustainability education. In our cases, these changes are aligned with the UN PRME and in one case there was a new UN PRME coordinator hired who leads this group. Overall, the number of working groups, committees and task forces appears to be low which may be explained by the coverage of the UN PRME activities within other business school or university bodies. It may also be expected that with increasing involvement in the UN PRME initiative and reporting process, the number of these specialised bodies might increase in future.
Illustrative Example 8: UN PRME task force
In the Spring of 2009, a taskforce was created to coordinate the efforts of the College of Business with respect to the six principles of PRME. The taskforce is multidisciplinary and includes members from each of the departments in the College of Business. To date the taskforce has created and deployed a survey to gather baseline data about faculty awareness and incorporation of PRME principles in both teaching and research, presented a panel presentation called “PRME in the Classroom,” and met with members of the College of Business Advancement Department to create calls for donations to support PRME oriented classroom and research opportunities.
(Illinois State University, USA)
Another key approach to organisational form that has emerged seems to be the establishment of dedicated business school centres or the extension of the focus of existing centres to integrate questions of sustainability. To advocate sustainability issues within research more than a third of the reviewed business schools (36%) established research centres which are dedicated to or integrate questions of
sustainability. These institutes carry out research and teaching focused on business and sustainability in a wide sense. They also coordinate the engagement processes
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with businesses through dialogue. Overall, it appears that these centres have a key role in the entire organisational change process.
Process
Having analysed the context (willingness, strategy and structure) for a successful integration of sustainability we now turn to the findings from analysing how business schools manage the process of organisational learning. The term „process‟ refers to initiatives or mechanisms which foster organisational learning resulting in new developments in research, teaching and operations and contributing towards a sustainable development of the organisation.
Key aspects underpinning the process of managing change are
Initiating organisational change through review of the current state;
Engaging and communicating with organisational members and external stakeholders to enhance the organisational change process;
Developing staff.
Initiating organisational change through review of the current state
One important step in organisational change of higher education institutions is to “promote organizational self-discovery” (Kezar 2001: 114). Therefore we focused on aspects in the reports that indicate activities through which business schools tried to learn more about themselves in order to allow change to occur. The review of the reports indicates that about one quarter of all business schools (23%) have undertaken a review of their own sustainability-related teaching, research and/or organisational practices. Two third of these business schools (65%) solely review teaching aspects (e.g. overview of current integration of sustainability in the
curricula, re-definition of syllabus of all courses, exchange of ideas and perspectives to develop interdisciplinary courses).
Engaging and communicating with organisational members and external stakeholders to enhance the organisational change process
To gather ideas and expectations of staff and students about sustainable practices in teaching, research and on campus, the entire business school should be involved.
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Mechanisms that bring organisational members of a business school together in order to discuss, relate and understand the current status are part of the self-discovery process but were mentioned by less than 10% of the reviewed business schools. Some Illustrative Examples were:
Illustrative Example 9: Tool to share ideas and initiate change I
Brownbag Research Session on New Course: The school has a strong history of brownbag research sessions. All the three brownbag sessions of spring 2009 was dedicated to exchanging ideas to develop an interdisciplinary course on “Sustainable Business Development.” During these session faculties from other academic units, especially Environmental Science, was invited to share their perspectives on developing this course.
(Cameron School of Business, USA)
Illustrative Example 10: Tool to share ideas and initiate change II
Communication: The six principles of the UN PRME have been clearly communicated to all faculty members. This was done through Academic meetings, Subject Area Grouping meetings, Emails and also on the contracts of all faculty members. Communication of the PRME was carried out in
conjunction with our curriculum review process. Our Administrative staff was also informed of the PRME through general and departmental meetings. In addition, all new students are exposed to the PRME during their orientation ceremony.
(Arthur Lok Jack, Trinidad)
In a very few cases the assessment of sustainability-related issues among faculty members, staff and students or the brainstorming on possibilities regarding the implementation of sustainability were accompanied by interviews or questionnaires. This is surprising as surveying expectation and inhibitors can help in overcoming barriers and facilitating change. Such an approach is grounded in the idea that the integration of sustainability is interpreted as changing of mindsets or mental models and transformation strategies are needed (transformative learning). The baseline therefore is knowledge about the mindsets that exists within the business school. This knowledge helps to modify and develop tools for the integration of
sustainability. An Illustrative Example which combines the use of a survey with a discussion event is shown below (Illustrative Example 11).
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Illustrative Example 11: Change of sustainability related mindsets within the business school
The experiences of trying to embed sustainability within the School of Management curriculum revealed some useful insights. In a survey of the academic staff with teaching responsibilities, most thought they already addressed sustainability issues within their courses. (…) In a specific
lunchtime forum to discuss and share ideas about ways in which this could be addressed, conversation immediately took a negative turn focusing on barriers to including sustainability issues rather than sharing positive ideas. However, once lecturers were offered specific examples of innovations and ideas that fit easily within their course, they immediately became more positive. Many of the negative reactions to embedding sustainability are due to a lack of confidence,
knowledge and/or time to work out how to do it. Given concrete examples, the lecturers became energised. Attitudes became much more positive and, most importantly, sustainability issues began to be integrated in a much more embedded way as they realised they were not necessarily being asked to lose chunks of their core material in order to insert sustainability.
(Southampton, UK)
Relatedly, some business schools also seek to gain external input to further develop their educational programme (e.g. to update the materials or develop new courses). A good case in point is a discussion event with sustainability leaders from the
business school‟s community.
Overall, only few business schools appear to realise the full spectrum of opportunities arising from participation, particularly of staff and students, in order to „learn from each other‟ and discuss and reflect different perspectives on higher education for sustainable development. The involvement of students and staff (8%) as well as external stakeholders (9%) was communicated broadly by 14% of the reviewed business schools.
Illustrative Example 12: Engaging staff and students
Engaging academics: We raised the issue of integrating issues of sustainability, responsibility and ethics into all School activities at our annual staff briefing day in September 2009. This was
preceded by a survey of both students and academic staff to gather views and suggestions relating to this issue. Results were fed back to staff at the briefing day followed by discussion. We followed this up in December with a lunchtime forum which all staff were expected to attend. Staff
brainstormed in groups how to integrate issues of sustainability, responsibility and ethics into their teaching.
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There also seems to be room for improvement to let students participate in the formerly mentioned working groups. They are usually composed of faculty members and in some cases administrative staff. The reviewed business schools rarely involve students in such working groups. Students of the reviewed business schools are engaged mostly in student-led activities such as volunteering or participating in student-led networks (e.g. Net Impact student club) or in groups on campus (e.g. Green teams).
To further enhance students‟ commitment to and participation in and the learning process inside and outside the classroom, two overlapping basic strategies are suggested within the reviewed reports:
Providing organisational support to those students who have already been committed to sustainability (e.g. through networks, clubs, projects) in order to encourage further participation;
Developing other opportunities for those who are not proactively engaged with sustainability issues to learn more about sustainability inside and outside the classroom (e.g. through exhibitions).
Developing staff
Integration of sustainability can also be increased through staff development such as opportunities for individuals to learn through engagement with themes associated with the change effort i.e. sustainability. Providing staff with new input and
supporting them in developing and integrating new sustainability related ideas is reported by one out of ten of the business schools. Support made available to organisational members takes the form of the development of teaching material, provision of sustainability related publications and multimedia resources and
opportunities for research topics. The creation of funds to finance investments in the institutional development linked to sustainability is not very common. Providing financial incentives is mentioned by only 5% of the reviewed business schools.
Illustrative Example 13: Staff development I
This year we have promoted a seminar with all the FDC technical staff, involving professors and program managers, to discuss "The FDC Reason for Being”. Our purpose was to gain a greater understanding of our responsibility vis-à-vis society, and particularly of our role in educating and building the skills of executives and entrepreneurs and in developing companies, thus incorporating
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the values of sustainability into business and into society. A document about "The FDC Reason for Being” subsidized the debates and it is being reviewed to incorporate the results of the seminar. (Fundação Dom Cabral, Brazil)
Illustrative Example 14: Staff development II
Faculty Development: Individual faculty were given the opportunity to attend an in-depth learning experience through AACSB needed to effectively introduce the subject of ethics to future business leaders. Attendees engaged in an analysis of the ethical dimensions of materials used in the classroom by participating in computer simulation exercises to further develop expertise in the subject area. (…)
Faculty members were also given the opportunity to participate in The Bentley Teaching Ethics Workshop as well as various in-house workshops that revolve around PRME themes and content areas.
(Thunderbird, USA)
Reflection
Thoughtful reflection upon experience with the implementation of the UN PRME is an essential part of business schools‟ learning. It imposes the highest demands on business schools but enables greater meaning and learning to be derived from the integration of sustainability. According to theories on organisational learning this kind of reflection represents a permanent questioning of inconsistencies and
incongruencies in the action theory of the organisation and basically means learning how to learn (also called triple loop learning, reflective learning; Argyris and Schön 1974). In our study, such reflective learning is explored in the form of construction of knowledge through both action and reflection in order to identify barriers to and enablers of organisational change.
Key aspects which underpin the process of reflection are:
Sharing with and learning from others;
Identifying barriers to organisational change;
Developing learning strategies and approaches to enabling organisational change.
Sharing with and learning from others
Within their SIP reports business schools are asked to formulate advice based on the experience they would give to other business schools on the sustainability integration
